Turning Ideas into Laws

...What is the White House position...

...Unfortunately, the credibility of Redman's book suffers a bit from his characterization of the Senate as a Magnuson-centered universe At some points, he seems to suggest that the efforts of Magnuson and his staff are essential to the continued survival of the Republic Despite these excesses, however, he does show the legislative process at its best, with a fine Senator and capable staff determining how a constructive idea can be turned into a beneficial law, and then executing their strategy with great skill and perseverance The positive view of the Congress that pervades The Dance of Legislation is welcome both as a recruiting effort for Senate staffs and as a reassuring report on a much misunderstood institution that now appears in the ascendant Unlike many past portraits of Capitol Hill, Redman's leaves the reader with the comforting feeling that the current shift of power from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other should be viewed with satisfaction...

...What committees is he on and which does he head...

...When can hearings be held, and how much time is there before Congress adjourns...

...Turning Ideas into Laws The Dance of Legislation By Eric Redman Simon and Schuster 319 pp $7 95 Reviewed by Elliott Abrams Washington has been a magnet for bright young men at least since the New Deal, but the strongest attraction was always the Executive Branch, not Capitol Hill Indeed, during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations the Congress was frequently viewed as little more than an obstacle between the Presidency and desirable social reform Vietnam and Watergate have changed our perspective, shitting attention increasingly to the complex machinations that make up "the dance of legislation" (the phrase is Woodrow Wilson's) Thus Eric Redman's story of how a bill initiated on Capitol Hill in response to a constituent's suggestion was shepherded past a reluctant and sometimes hostile administration by a powerful Senator is particularly timely If any substantial amount of power is passing from the White House to the Congress, we will see the process Redman describes repeated often m coming years The author spent 1970 working for Warren Magnuson (D -Wash ). one of the Senate's most senior members and chairman of its Commerce Committee Only 20, the youngest of the Senate's 3,000 staff people, he was assigned to creating a National Health Service Corps (NHSC)--a small-scale program designed to send idealistic young doctors to poor rural and central-city areas that lacked adequate medical care The young medics were to serve two years, be paid by the Federal government, and receive a draft deferment To obtain the latter, the Corps had to be attached to the Public Health Service (PHS), whose doctors are exempt from military service There lay the rub, for the White House was intent on abolishing the PHS, not enlarging it At first, Redman explored various ways of setting up the NHSC without resorting to new legislation, but the idea ran into considerable guerrilla warfare within the Nixon Administration, especially in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare Once it is decided to introduce S4106 m the Senate, he traces its movement through the relevant subcommittees and committees, past hearings, press conferences, lobbyists, and personality clashes In following the bill's advance, Redman brings to fife the hundreds of variables that determine the fate of every piece of proposed legislation How powerful is the sponsoring Senator...

...What will the pressure groups say, and how loudly...

...Who owes him a favor, and to whom is he in debt...

...Turning next to the House version of the bill, Redman is equally instructive and interesting, though he seems less intimately familiar with the processes and personalities involved Finally, he shows us how the Senate and House committee chairmen, dealing with each other as foreign potentates and jealously guarding their self-esteem and power, negotiate wording and scheduling as carefully as they do substantive changes The only thing that is not entirely clear from Redman's intricately detailed account is how more than two or three bills ever manage to get passed in any year In a way no textbook can match, The Dance of Legislation explains the written and unwritten rules and customs of the Congress More valuable still, the book provides an insider's view of what the Senate staff really does from day to day, offsetting the rather unfortunate picture of the role played by bright young men in government that has emerged from the Watergate hearings "To ignore the role of the staff," says Redman, "is to ignore not only Senate reality but the key reason why the Senate is still capable of vying with the President for legislative leadership " Though that may be overstating the case somewhat, he is surely justified in complaining about the "shortcoming of the literature" that gives the impression the Upper Chamber consists solely of the 100 Senators elected to it Musing about the psychology of working for a Senator, Redman notes that "the staff man eventually leaves It is, by its very nature, a transient job" The attractions of being in close proximity to power and action are ultimately outweighed by the strain of constantly submerging one's ambitions and ego in the service of another man "No matter how terrific the staff man is," a Senate aide once remarked to me, "he'll never be promoted to Senator " He remains marginal and replaceable, a figure in the wings whose gratifications are, at best, vicarious Proof of that is implicit in Redman's portrait of Magnuson, which verges on hagiography--a not uncommon phenomenon when staffers speak about the men whose careers they devote theirs to serving Any amateur psychologist would conclude, probably rightly, that this is a reaction to the strain Redman describes If the staffer can convince himself that his boss is a man of surpassing virtue and power, it will be much easier to rationalize spending years advancing the man's interests The only satisfying alternative is to believe the boss to be a mediocre fellow who, by chance, may be headed for the White House, a hope nurtured in the bosoms of many a Senator's employes...

...How good is his staff...